Three kings: Broadway in Chicago’s ‘Lion King’, Goodman’s ‘Christmas Carol’, and Chicago Opera Theater’s ‘King Roger’
Chicago is hosting a pair of milestone productions: Disney’s The Lion King, now twenty-five years running on Broadway, is passing through on a national tour; and Goodman Theatre hauled out the holly and its forty-fifth annual mounting of A Christmas Carol. Stalwart staples, both, and yet I’d never seen either of them until now.
And, for added spice, we have the richly appointed King Roger at the Harris Theater, which no one in Chicago has heard until now.
Gugwana Dlamini. Photo by Joan Marcus.
Of course, I grew up with the The Lion King, the movie, and knew academically that its particular combination of Shakespeare, ancient myth, and anthropomorphism was in director/designer Julie Taymor’s wheelhouse. The Lion King, the stage musical, launched her into the stratosphere, and rightfully so—it’s as pure a celebration of theatre as any.
Even to the point that it doesn’t matter that it’s a triumph of presentation over material. (It’s also been twenty-five years—nothing I say can tame this beast.)
While capably pulled off, there’s a sense that the performers are only allowed to go so far. As in, one can feel the Big Mouse telling these lions that this is a family show and they should stick to hitting their marks. Then again, they have to stick to hitting their marks in order for all of Taymor and company’s stage tableaux to function. Thus, for instance, the impressively staged demise of Mufasa doesn’t really kill like it should—it shouldn’t just be the cold-blooded murder of a king, but the death of the Best Dad Ever. (Gerald Ramsay makes his brief time count, though, and Peter Hargrave’s killer Scar is properly ham.)
Also, as iconic as their songs were for a generation, a fresh listen goes to prove that Elton John and Tim Rice are no Alan Menken and Howard Ashman.
More striking than their songs are the augmentations and original numbers contributed by a kitchen full of cooks, Lebo M. above all. This music hits like a ton of bricks while that silken sun rises high over the African savannah and Rafiki’s (Gugwana Dlamini’s) shaman soprano rises even higher than that.
Well, long may they rise. Salve pantera leo rex.
The Lion King runs through January 14th at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St. For tickets or more information, please call (800) 775-2000 or visit broadwayinchicago.com.
L t R: William Dick, Penelope Walker, Jayson Brooks,Larry Yando, Dee Dee Batteast, Ariana Burks, and Kareem Bandealy. Photo by Liz Lauren.
Chicagoans will never be for want of A Christmas Carol whenever the holiday season rolls around, whether they like their Charles Dickens served straight or with a twist. If you had to go with just one, Goodman Theatre’s would probably be your best bet. (Dickens is deftly adapted by Tom Creamer, for the record.)
Larry Yando has played the covetous old sinner Scrooge for the last fifteen years, and, indeed, he hits all the marks of Ebenezer’s philanthropic transformation like a crack shot, but that’s more from cozy lived-in familiarity with the role than corporate fiat. Crank that he may be, there’s a two-sizes-too-small heart rattling around in there somewhere, and it can only defrost and grow. Also, refreshingly, his eventual enlightenment isn’t just sticky-sweet figgy pudding—there’s a big slice of humble pie, too.
With deft narration from Andrew White and Malcolm Ruhl heading a quartet of wandering street musicians through the Christmas repertoire—not to mention boisterous voices such as that of Bethany Thomas’s Ghost of Christmas Present—Goodman’s Carol is also eminently theatrical, but a little more—dare I say?—human than its neighbor.
A Christmas Carol runs through December 31st at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. For tickets or more information, please call (312) 443.3800 or visit goodmantheatre.org.
David Cangelosi, Mariusz Godlewski, Tyrone Chambers II and Iwona Sobotka. Photo by Michael Brosilow.
Karol Szymanowski’s King Roger is richly mysterious, only vaguely based on the facts of the real Sicilian king’s life, and massive in sound and scope. Consequently, it hasn’t been heard in Chicago until now, courtesy of Chicago Opera Theater.
Essentially an opera about stripping away everything that isn’t The Truth, its title character, King Roger (Mariusz Godlewski), a Christian king, is deeply troubled by the arrival of a pagan Shepherd (Tyrone Chambers II) whose unassuming spiritual unconventionality proves beguiling and sympathetic, even as the King holds the power to crush him. Beguiling enough, even, to tempt away the king’s wife (Iwona Sobotka)…
Sung by the composer’s countryfolk, sleekly designed (even accomodating a hundred-strong Apollo Chorus and Uniting Voices Chicago on stage), and under Maestra Lidiya Yankovskaya’s baton, Chicago Opera Theater makes a persuasive argument for the piece’s place in the literature.
Maybe without the overhanging tilting sun sculpture, though. That seemed easily strippable.
King Roger closed at the Harris Theater on November 20th.
For more reviews on these or other shows, please visit theatreinchicago.com.